‘Really, really happy’: District runner-up Ashland sets record, records several PRs
FINDLAY — He’s built like someone who flips monster truck tires for a “light” workout.
It would be a huge mistake, though, to suggest to Ashland senior Kadin Schmitz that he’s a shot putter masquerading as a sprinter. If anything, exactly the opposite is true.
And it showed in his performance over two days at the Division I district track and field meet at Findlay High School.
Schmitz collaborated with seniors Bryant Hosse and Bryce Mendenhall and junior anchor Colton Johnson to set a stadium record in the 4x100 relay with a time of 42.66 in Thursday’s preliminaries. They came back in Saturday’s finals to win the title with a 43.13.
“We weren’t coming up here trying to break any records,” Schmitz said. “We were just trying to run our best race and win. That’s really all it was. But this means a lot, being out here with the guys. We have a really good group that’s close, so it’s fun doing well.”
The 4x100 is one of five events in which Ashland produced qualifiers for this week’s regional meet, right back at Findlay, including one-two finishes in both the 800 and 3,200 meters. The Arrows scored 85.5 points for district runner-up honors behind the host school’s 118.
“I’ll take runner-up,” Ashland coach Dan Fuller said. “I’m just trying to get guys out [to regionals] after conference. Anything else you get is icing on the cake.”
The 4x100 performance must have been the cherry on top of the icing. And it might not have happened if Schmitz, a member of the Naval Academy’s newest football recruiting class, had stuck with his original plan this spring.
“Last year, I ran the 4x2, the 4x1 and the 200,” he said. “This year, my plan was to just focus on football, training and doing my thing.
“I just wanted to get ready for college. But coach called me up and said, 'Hey, throw the shot put three days a week, and you can still train.' So I was doing that, but I loved the 4x1 so much and I’m still pretty fast, so I said get me on the 4x1 team, too.”
Fuller took it as a good sign for regionals that his record-setting relay crew was upset with running a 43 in Saturday’s finals after breaking 43 two days earlier.
“I told them it’s a good day if you’re upset with a 43,” Fuller said. “We know what’s ahead of us. We’ve got to clean some things up, but that’s a fun group to watch. They do a lot of other events for fun, but that 4x1, that’s all business for them.”
The Arrows scored 36 of their points in two events, with junior Lukah Will and freshman Tyler Sauder finishing first and second, respectively, in the 800 just a short time before senior Jacob Stump and junior Luke Wash duplicated that feat in the 3,200.
Will (1:58.17) and Sauder (1:58.54) ran personal bests, and it was the first time Sauder broke two minutes.
“It’s the first time this has happened,” Sauder said of the one-two finish. “Usually (Will’s) in front and I’m behind somewhere. I just went out faster than I normally do and tried to stay on top of the pack and follow his lead.
“I’ve yet to beat him. I guess I’ll have to go out even faster and try and out-stride him.”
Will was almost as happy for his teammate as he was with the district title.
“It was awesome,” he said. “I knew I had to go out faster than last week [when I won the OCC title], which I did, but there was still a group of four in front of me. I knew I had to get in front of them and then hold them off, which I’m good at doing.
“I saw Tyler fighting me a little bit. Then I took the lead, and I knew we’d be OK. I knew he was going to try and stick with me. It was just great.”
Going one-two was unexpected and something to build on for regionals.
“It’s way more special,” Will said. “I knew the competition was going to be better than the OCCs. I’m so happy to see (Sauder) go out there and be able to compete and finally get sub-2. I knew all season he was going to get it.”
The one-two in the 3,200 was also a surprise, if only because Wash didn’t even run that race in the conference meet, finishing seventh in the 1,600 instead. His time Saturday (10:13.43) was a PR and gave Stump (10:11.94) the nudge needed to match his title in the league meet.
“That was awesome,” Fuller said of the way his guys doubled up in those two races. “We took a little load off those (800) guys, the way we lined everybody up, and thought they would be able to run faster in the 8.
“That’s the first time Sauder decided to go. He’s been hanging on Lukah’s heels a little bit, trying to figure it out. He just went today, and I thought Luke and Stumpy ran well, too.”
Grabbing the last of four qualifying spots per event was Johnson with a fourth-place finish in the 100 (11.35). The 4x200 relay crew of Hosse, freshman Jacob Holbrook and juniors Ayden Bryant and Caden Vantilburg was third (1:32.38).
Advancing for coach Jerry Seiter’s girls were sophomore Dana Frazier in the pole vault (fourth, 9-feet-8) and junior Aveline Wilhelm in the shot put (third, 37-5½).
Several of Fuller’s boys fell just short of regional berths. Finishing fifth were Seth Will in the shot put, Braydon Martin in the 300 hurdles, Ashden Maffett in the pole vault, Holbrook in the high jump and the 4x400 relay.
Really, it would be hard to find fault with anything but Fuller’s shirt on Saturday. It read: 4-peat OCC champ.
He needs to update his wardrobe. As a retirement gift — he and Seiter are both stepping down after more than 60 years between them in coaching — his Arrows presented Fuller with the team’s sixth straight league title this spring.
“We had good performances by those (fifth-place finishers),” Fuller said of their near-misses, “but other than that I’m really, really happy.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland boys track finishes second at D-I Findlay District
